And are you a racist/'unwoke' if you don't agree?
There's a guy trending on Twitter at moment who appears to be in the affirmative for both questions.
But, I'd like a civilised and reasonable argument about the reasons for and against the idea. Whatever your position, explain why, and don't resort to name-calling.
My own feeling is you cast the best actor. If that actor happens to be black, then who cares? At the end of the day, I want to see a well acted and good movie. The focus should be on who'd be the best Batman.
Now on the flipside, I don't see why WB would do that as the environment right now smacks of identity politics (whether one believes it or not) and large groups of the viewing public [sometimes I count myself in these groups, sometimes I don't, depending on the circumstances] are rightly tired of it. Just look at the recent shift by Disney-Marvel with the "special look" trailer for Captain Marvel that was released, following two official trailers that they themselves admitted weren't generating the kind of 'buzz' they wanted. If you compare the new trailer to the previous two, you'll notice there's not an emphasis on the hero being female, as there was in the first two trailers. None of the word HER morphing into HERO silliness (and it was silly) on the screen and more emphasis on the fun parts, for which MCU movies are best known.
So at the end of all this, my take is:
1. Cast the best actor (male) to play Batman. White or black.
2. Movie studios keep away from real-life social/political statements and just make good movies
The first Blade is one of my favorite action movies and I suggested Wesley Snipes on another thread. Race isn't an issue but age might be.
shareBut would Bruce Wayne's background have to be substantially rewritten to accommodate a black actor?
Even the Twitter user who is suggesting a black Batman/Bruce Wayne has acknowledged that Bruce Wayne is traditionally presented as the scion of an old money blue-blood family long established in Gotham City. His suggestion was to have Bruce be the adopted son of Dr Thomas and Martha Wayne, who eventually learns to love them as if they were his real parents, and thus fights for Gothamites who, unlike him, were not fortunate enough to be plucked out of hardship and raised by a super-rich family. Seeing as the Waynes tend to be presented as progressive liberal types in recent comics (Thomas' vocation as a doctor, rather than as CEO of his family's company, reflecting his desire to use his privileges to help others rather than simply enrich his family), I think this concept could work as a sort of 'Elseworlds' take on Batman/Bruce Wayne.
I wouldn't mind seeing that character in some sort of capacity, whether it is in a comic or onscreen, but my only real reservation is if it would detract from the opportunity to see Matt Reeves bring a 'definitive' adaptation of the comics to the big-screen (i.e. a version that was as faithful to commonly recognised comic-book canon as possible), since I don't think we've so far had that definitive take (every onscreen Batman so far, has had its merits, but, disregarding the 1990s animated series, nothing has yet been 100% true to the characters).
No doubt some people would still criticise me for wanting to see that 'definitive' (i.e. white man of privilege) take on Bruce Wayne, but, as I say, it's not because I'm not open to a black Batman. I just don't want it to be an 'either/or' scenario, especially since the upcoming solo 'Joker' film would appear to demonstrate that we can have more than one big-screen version of an iconic comic-book character at a time.
Your pretty much labeled racist/unwoke if you disagree with any kind of race,gender or sexuality casting now a days.Overly sensitive SJWs would sooner slap a label on you than concede that you may have a valid opinion that differs from their agenda.My response to a black Bruce Wayne is the same as my response to a white Shaft.Why?.It's not that i think a black actor couldn't pull it off.I just prefer my favorite characters stay the way i nostalgically remember them.
shareI don't understand why the SJWs just don;t create their own heroes that are whatever color/orientation they want....why do they need to wash existing characters with their shit ideology?
shareBecause it's easy.Creating something new and original involves talent,hard work and thought.Where as hijacking somebody else's work and slapping a new color or gender on it involves zero effort because the ground work has already been layed and the audience is built in.
I would respect SJWs a bit more if they showed some creativity or originality.But all this lazy gimmicky race/gender swapping of other characters is tiresome and old.
I want to see a white Shaft and white Othello
shareSure a black Batman could work, or at least a biracial one! He's from an Old Family, with old money, but the heirs of old money fortunes marry whom they like. Cast the best actor you can find, of any race, and when you show his parents being murdered give him a white father and a beautiful mother of the same race as the actor. Because the Batman character is all about the costume, you could put any tall handsome actor of any race in the costume and he'd still be Batman.
The same is NOT true of Superman. Superman MUST resemble a Caucasian human male, with blue eyes, light skin, and dark hair. Batman may be all about the mask and cowl, but Superman's face is iconic.
The reason I don't want it is simple: Batman has always(or at least for the most part)been white, on every media, right? So why change races? I don't want a black Batman in the same way I definitely don't want a white Black Panther. It's simple.
shareI generally dislike these sort of baiting threads often started by suspected ws/"muh white genocide" types presenting this argument "ironically" as a "SJW" issue so it can be attacked but anyway to the point.
Sure it "could" work but it's not necessary and won't happen on any major platform anyway nor does it need to. I think it's okay to be more lenient when it comes to making different changes to more obscure characters that aren't widely popular and iconic.
Messing around too much with extremely iconic and popular characters just opens to door for too much nonsense. Bruce Wayne is a white guy and that's fine & as far as I know there isn't any significant interest to see that changed. More movies featuring establish non white superheroes is i the way to go. Black Panther proved to be popular and successful & Blade is ready for a reboot.
I don't care what color the actor as long as he fits into the roll nicely. Wesley Snipes probably would have been great when he was younger. Antonio Banderas would have been great as well.
share100%
shareBatman is a brand.
Can a pork cheeseburger work?
No, because that is not a cheeseburger.
The Dark Tower was a Steven King novel. The main character was described as Clint Eastwood. The author said that's who he had in mind. So, when you visualize the story, you think of someone like Eastwood, which makes the story better.
When the movie came out, a big black guy is the main character and he sounds like he has marbles in his mouth.
No one went to see it.
I KNOW from reading that many filmmakers don't actually read the source material, they get the general idea and make what they want. That's like someone looking at a picture of some food, then making it out of whatever the hell they want, and calling it that food. That's not how it works. The Dark Tower is a Brand, meaning there are expectations about what it is.
Batman has been around for almost 100 years. He has a lot of branding and if you screw it up, you're going to lose.
POINT OF FACT...IDRIS ELBA WAS THE BEST AND ONLY GOOD THING ABOUT THAT RIDICULOUS DARK TOWER FLICK.
shareHe is a terrible actor and ugly!
I didn't watch that film and never will.